Chase Briscoe earns Brickyard 400 pole as Denny Hamlin wrecks hard
Indiana native Chase Briscoe rocketed to pole position for this year's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Earning his series-leading fifth pole of the 2025 season, Briscoe bested 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones.
Wallace, who enters this race on the playoff bubble, was just 0.013s away from pole position.
As for Briscoe, his season has included pole positions in three crown jewel events -- the Daytona 500, the Coca Cola 600, and now the Brickyard 400.
Tyler Reddick qualified fourth, and Ty Gibbs, who is in the finals of the $1 million in-season challenge, starts fifth.
William Byron was the top Chevrolet driver in sixth, Chris Buescher led the way for Ford in seventh, Carson Hocevar was eighth, A.J. Allmendinger ninth, and Austin Cindric tenth.
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen ended up eleventh in his best qualifying effort yet on a Cup Series oval.
On the edge of control
Watch: Back home again: Briscoe to lead field to green at Indianapolis
"I was super close to doing that (wrecking), really in all four corners," said Briscoe. "That's the closest I think I've ever gotten to Indy 500 qualifying, just being on the absolute ragged edge. I thought I was gonna lose it a couple times, but I was able to hold onto it. Super cool. I'm holding back tears, truthfully. This is such a special moment for me, and even hearing the crowd as I got the pole -- it was just super cool. Hopefully, we can keep it up there tomorrow. That's the one we want to win."
The session was full of heart-stopping moments as drivers struggled to maintain control over the course of a flying lap around the iconic 2.5-mile speedway.
Several drivers hit the wall, including John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, and Kyle Busch.
Chase Elliott nearly spun out at the exit of Turn 2, which was a big trouble spot for drivers.
Hamlin wrecks while going for pole
Denny Hamlin was the final driver out on track, hoping to snag pole position just after signing a multi-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. And he was absolutely flying in the No. 11 Toyota — with the tracker showing him on provisional pole — nearly three tenths faster than Briscoe at the exit of Turn 2.
Unfortunately, that's when the car came out from underneath him and Hamlin slapped the outside wall. Now completely out of control, the car spun back across the track and slammed the inside wall with tremendous force. The front of the car was destroyed, and instead of celebrating an impressive pole, Hamlin will start 39th on Sunday. The Brickyard 400 is the only crown jewel race Hamlin has yet to win.
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